Embracing LGBT people goes against Scriptures

The letter, “Pastors urge Methodists to embrace LGBT people,” goes strictly against the Scriptures of all churches. The great Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral or idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes, nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

Now I don’t hate or despise these people and had contact with many of them in the Bronx for many years before coming to Youngstown. My boss was a lesbian and co-worker was a homosexual and we respected each other. I met many that were converted to Christ and became heterosexuals and even got married to the opposite sex.

Every man and woman is born of a man and woman and this is what God intended from the beginning. How can any church accept these concepts when the very Bible they read tells them their relationships are wrong? People just have to read the Bible and see what God did to Sodom and Gomorrah by sending fire down from Heaven to destroy people who didn’t live by His word.

It is a very sad situation and I love all of these people but I don’t want them to be judged by God and sent to hell with the other sinners listed in the Scriptures. Even if you don’t believe in God or the Bible, what does a man have to do with a man sexually or a woman with a woman sexually, when they were all born of a father and mother? May God have mercy on their souls.

Leo Feher, Youngstown

Trump should give up on his pursuit of border wall

The border and Presi- dent Donald Trump – his relentless pursuit of an artificial solution to a problem contributed to by the United States. When fixing a water leak, be it a car window or a roof, do you repair the outside or the inside of the leak? A leak always has to be repaired from the outside. And similarly, the Trump Wall is duct tape, which will leak.

The Border Pain – just turn on the TV to witness the women and children who are and will remain so damaged by our border policy. No one can prove these innocents are a threat. It is just a political ploy by those who stoke the fears of Americans who feel threatened by anything different. Maybe it all started with the Spanish instructions on products at Home Depot. Or maybe “Hit 2 if you speak Spanish” on robo-phone systems. Many of our fearful have never even heard Spanish spoken in person.

The Source of the Pain: the drug trade and gang violence in small Central American countries which have been unstable for decades – some instability caused by the United States. There is an entire sense of lawlessness.

The History of U.S. Invasions of Central America and the Caribbean: We have never been shy when it came to the CIA, instigation of regime change, support for coups – and outright invasion. All in the name of freedom – and to protect American corporate profits in Latin America.

Puerto Rico and Cuba, 1898.

Mexico, 1914-1918.

Haiti, 1915-1934.

Guatemala, 1954.

Cuba, 1961.

Dominican Republic, 1965.

Nicaragua, 1981-1990.

Grenada, 1983.

Let us not forget our involvement in Chile, Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil. All ugly.

What do we do to help ourselves and pay the region back? We have invested so many dollars in invasions and creating instability in this region for the sake of American interests. Now we want to spend billions for a “fake emergency” wall. Maybe it’s time for us to spend money on stabilizing Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and others to transform and stabilize places of lawlessness which chase women and children all the way to the American border.

This is not the other side of the world, where we have such a military presence; this is in our very own hemisphere. Our military could provide training, technology and equipment to the Latin countries in our very backyard and willing to work with us. This could promote a great deal of good will toward a United States currently held in contempt by so much of the world.

Enough with the Wall already – we need a new plan.

Rob Schuler, Canfield

Will the elephant and the donkey lie down together?

In the World Book Dictionary the definition of a donkey is a 1. an animal like a horse, but somewhat like a horse but smaller, with longer ears, a shorter mane, and a tuft of hair on its tale 2. a stubborn person. 3. a silly or stupid person.

The definition of an elephant is a huge heavy animal with a long muscular snout called a trunk, the largest four-footed animal now living (remember the saying: And a brain like an elephant.)

How these two animals became the symbols of our two party system I’ll never understand. Isn’t it about time for both parties to start acting like gentlemen and women and start listening, to each other? Hearing each other’s rhetoric is like who can make the biggest sound and drown out the other person, but listening is when you engage your brain and actually understand what the other person is saying and then acting on it for the common good of all of us.

Call it a fence or a wall or a curb but do something. We all have property lines surveyed by professionals. The southern border of the United States has its property lines also. If I had someone coming on my side I have the right to question their trespassing. They can come on with my approval but if they want to cross over and put in a garden on my property then ask for a shovel and some seeds and then expect me to water and feed their plants while they go to work on the rest of my property then I would probably put up a fence with a gate so they understand that they can then come through but only with my approval and my conditions.

Dale Carnegie, the author of “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” so aptly put it “Don’t criticize, condemn or complain. The best way to win an argument is to avoid it.”

Listen to each other and find a common ground. You are all elected officials of the American people. Please listen to us. Get results and don’t bicker like little kids. Both parties have some sort of lines or curbs or fences or walls on your personal property, so what’s the difference?

By the way, if whatever barrier is put up is made of steel where else would you find the best steelmakers in this country than in the Youngstown area? Think about it.

John Grantonic, Youngstown

Flag taken from church in New Springfield is special

An American flag is missing from the closed Emmanuel Lutheran Church in New Springfield, Ohio. The ladies from the church were cleaning and the flag that was there went missing. I was told they would give it to my family, but it was gone.

The American flag belonged to Charles O. Seidmer, the flag was on the casket of my father-in-law who was an Army veteran of World War II.

I am also a Navy veteran who is in the last stages of an asbestos-caused illness and I am in Hospice Care. I would like to have the flag on my casket so my family can have the flag when I’m gone.

If you know who took the flag please return it. It’s a sad day when someone has to steal it when it doesn’t belong to them. The family would like it returned to the deceased’s (Charles Seidner) daughters.

You can stay anonymous.

Please take the flag back to the Emmanuel Lutheran Church in New Springfield.